Evan Jenkins jumps into West Virginia Senate race

GOP Rep. Evan Jenkins announced his candidacy for Senate in West Virginia on Monday, giving Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin his first major challenger ahead of a tricky 2018 campaign.

“I’m Evan Jenkins and I’m running for the United States Senate to help bring West Virginia back,” Jenkins says in an announcement video. “... [W]ith Donald Trump in the White House we’ve got a real chance to turn things around. He needs our help and I need your help. West Virginia needs your help.”

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Manchin is one of 10 Senate Democrats facing reelection in 2018 in a state carried by President Donald Trump last year, but West Virginia was a particularly strong state for the GOP, with Trump winning over two-thirds of the vote. Since then, Manchin has continued to compile one of the most conservative voting records among Senate Democrats, including votes to confirm most of Trump’s Cabinet nominees and Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

Jenkins, who had been laying the groundwork for a run for months, is the first serious Republican candidate to jump into the race for Manchin’s seat, but he may not be the last. Jenkins’ Monday announcement came as allies of West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, also a Republican, unveiled plans to form a super PAC that would back Morrisey if he decides to run for Senate.

The super PAC, 35th PAC, released a statement linking Jenkins to Manchin.

“This is a critically important race, and we aren’t going to beat Joe Manchin by running his ‘mini-me’ Evan Jenkins," Leonardo Alcivar, an adviser for the super PAC, said. "West Virginians need a clear contrast and a real choice in this campaign. They don’t need Joe Manchin running against his campaign donor. That’s why we are hopeful Attorney General Patrick Morrissey will enter this race with his strong and clear conservative record and vision.”

In response, Jenkins' team pointed to an article in the Charleston Gazette-Mail which reported that a lobbying firm connected to Morissey's wife received nearly $500,000 from Planned Parenthood.

"It's not surprising that a super PAC is doing the talking for Patrick Morrisey (though they ought to bone up on how to spell his name)," the Jenkins spokesman said. "Because with Morrisey, money always talks. It does make you wonder though: given that his lifestyle is funded, in part, by Planned Parenthood's lobbying dollars, are they funding his super PAC as well?"

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Jenkins is in his second term in the House. He captured West Virginia's 3rd District from veteran Democratic Rep. Nick Rahall in 2014, in one of the most expensive House races in the country that year. (Jenkins had been a Democratic state legislator before changing his party and taking on Rahall.) Rahall had seen off challenges in past elections, but Jenkins and Republicans hammered Rahall with links to President Barack Obama and the national Democratic Party, beating the incumbent 55 percent to 45 percent.

Manchin, a former governor, won his seat in a 2010 special election following the death of longtime Sen. Robert Byrd. Manchin won his first full term in 2012 with 61 percent of the vote, even as Obama won just 36 percent of the vote in the state that fall.